YouTube Gold: Bob Knight vs. Ted Valentine
One of his more spectacular eruptions
Love him or hate him, and plenty of people did both and some at the same time, Bob Knight was an imposing figure in college basketball.
He was a brilliant strategist who changed the game forever with the motion offense which allowed big men to no longer be stuck near the basket. Before Knight, it would have been inconceivable to let a guy like Victor Wembanyama shoot from outside.
But he had a mercurial personality and angered quickly. The stories have a sort of shorthand: the chair toss. The trash can. Indiana fans could probably rattle off 15-20 with no problem.
One of the classics was getting ejected by Ted Valentine as Indiana hosted Purdue in 1998.
Former Hoosier Luke Recker had been injured on a drive and the game came to a halt as he writhed in pain.
Valentine tagged Knight not once, not twice, but three times.
Those guys both had very strong egos and a clash was probably inevitable. Interestingly, Valentine believed that it started in 1992 in the Final Four against Duke when he teed Knight up and that Knight could not let it go.
In this video, the most spectacular part is when Knight stalks off, nearly clipping Valentine on his way off the court.
His bitterness eventually overcame his genius and he was fired at Indiana. It took many years, but eventually he returned to Assembly Hall, in a deeply emotional scene, escorted by many of his former players. Obviously it wounded him to be fired. He was an old man by that point and finally, you could see what his inability to control his emotions cost him.